1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to digital communication networks, and more specifically to a system and method for flexibly controlling any unsolicited web pages sent to a user accessing the Internet.
2. Related Art
Users often access the Internet using a user system. A computer system with a modem is a typical example of a user system. However, user systems can include any other devices such as television systems and hand-held portable devices (e.g., Palm-Pilot from 3Com Corporation) which enable a user to access the Internet, As is well known, Internet refers to a conglomeration of interconnected systems. The systems on the Internet will also be referred to as remote systems in the present application.
Users have the ability to access different information and services provided on remote systems. The access is enabled typically in the form of web pages. A web page generally contains a combination of multi-media components such as text, graphics, voice, and video. A web page is typically identified by a Universal Resource Locator (URL), and the URL is typically used by user to access the web page. For ease of navigation, many web pages contain hyper-links having associated URLs, and a user typically actuates (for example by clicking) a hyperlink to access the web page identified by the corresponding URL.
In the conventional general approach described above, software (xe2x80x9cclient softwarexe2x80x9d) such as browsers (available from companies such as Netscape and Microsoft) typically control the specific web page accessed by a user. The user, in turn, generally specifies the page of interest typically by a suitable user interface. Web servers on the Internet provide the specified page to the client software, and the client software generally displays the provided web page.
However, it may be desirable to send a different web page (xe2x80x9cunsolicited pagexe2x80x9d) than that requested by a client software. The unsolicited web page contains content different from that of the one that has been requested. For example, the first web page (typically referred to as xe2x80x9chome pagexe2x80x9d) provided to a user is gaining increasing importance. As an illustration, xe2x80x9cnetwork portalsxe2x80x9d provided by companies (xe2x80x9cportal companiesxe2x80x9d) such as Yahoo and Netscape are attempting to become Internet entry points for users. It is generally believed that a portal company will be able to generate substantial revenues should the users use a web page provided by a portal company as the first page when accessing the Internet.
At least the portal companies would wish to have their web pages be the first pages even if not requested by a user.
Sending unsolicited pages may be desirable in several other situations as well. For example, a service provider may wish to send different web pages containing advertisements when the requested page cannot be retrieved due to network congestion. As is well known in the relevant arts, the advertizing parties often pay for such advertisements.
However, sending unsolicited pages (either as the first page or later for advertisements) may be undesirable in some situations. For example, some users may wish to retain control of all the web pages they receive. Some users may further wish to have such control in some times and willing to relinquish control some other times.
Accordingly, what is needed is a method and apparatus for flexibly controlling any unsolicited web pages sent to a user system accessing the Internet.
The present invention enables unsolicited web pages to be sent to a user according to various services subscribed by the user. As a result, a user may receive unsolicited pages under some circumstances (e.g., non-business hours) or not receive unsolicited pages at all.
An access network in accordance with the present invention may be configured to indicate which users may wish to receive unsolicited web pages and under what conditions. If a condition is satisfied, the corresponding web page may be sent as an unsolicited page.
In an embodiment, an internet service node (ISN) is provided as an Internet edge device (preferably combined as an IP router), and the ISN is configured with the user specific information. The ISN may monitor data flows to and/or from the user system and determine whether a condition has been satisfied. Typically, conditions are based on reception of web page access requests.
If a condition is satisfied, ISN may forward the corresponding web page access request to a web server. The web server may form an unsolicited page (preferably to correspond to the satisfied condition) and send the unsolicited page to the user system. The unsolicited page is a page different from the page specified in the web page access request. The different web page may have different internal layout (frame structure) than that requested.
In an embodiment, the first web page provided to a user accessing the Internet may be controlled. When a first request for a web page in a web access session is received, the ISN may operate in conjunction with the web server to provide an unsolicited page instead of the web page specified in the first request. The unsolicited web page may correspond to a web page provided by a portal company.
Additional web pages may also be provided in accordance with the present invention. In response to a web page access request, an unsolicited web page having an URL specified by the web page access request and a suitable associated refresh period may be sent. The refresh period causes typical client software (web browsers) to request the page with the URL again. When the request is received as a result, ISN may forward the request packet to the specified IP destination address. Accordingly, the user receives the requested web page automatically on the second attempt.
The present invention provides a non-intrusive mechanism for sending unsolicited web pages to users as the web pages are sent only users willing to receive the unsolicited web pages.
The present invention is particularly suited for access providers such as ISPs and LECs as the providers may selectively send web pages with advertisements or related to portal companies to users accessing Internet, and charge the beneficiaries (advertised companies, portal companies) for forcing the users to view the information in the web pages.
The present invention provides a convenient method of controlling the home page of a user as the access provider may selectively send any web page in response to a requested web page.
The present invention provides a non-intrusive mechanism of sending web page with advertisements as the web page requested by the user will be automatically received by the user due to the URL specified for the unsolicited web page and the refresh period.
The present invention enables a single ISN to be used to serve users agreeing to receive unsolicited web pages and users not agreeing to receive unsolicited web pages as the unsolicited web pages may be sent only according to subscribed services.
The present invention is particularly useful for internet service providers (ISP) as the ISPs can send advertisements to users on a subscription basis and charge less the clients who are willing to receive advertisements.
Further features and advantages of the invention, as well as the structure and operation of various embodiments of the invention, are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, like reference numbers generally indicate identical, functionally similar, and/or structurally similar elements. The drawing in which an element first appears is indicated by the leftmost digit(s) in the corresponding reference number.